SSM Supporting ART Events Practice Question
During the System Demo, a Product Owner for Team Delta notices that a feature demonstrated by another team directly overlaps with a capability her team planned to deliver next Iteration, creating a potential integration conflict. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming the System Demo must be paused or escalated the moment a cross-team conflict appears, rather than using it as an inspection point and facilitating resolution afterward.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Capture the overlap as an impediment and help facilitate a follow-up conversation between the two teams after the System Demo concludes.
The System Demo exists so the ART can inspect the integrated solution together and surface issues like overlapping work. The Scrum Master's role is to help the team and ART act on what is discovered. Facilitating a focused follow-up between the affected teams after the demo keeps the event intact while ensuring the conflict is addressed collaboratively before it disrupts the next Iteration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Escalate directly to the Release Train Engineer and ask that the other team's feature be dropped from the next PI.
Why it's wrong here
Escalating before any team-level conversation bypasses the teams' ability to self-organize and solve the dependency themselves. The Release Train Engineer should be engaged if the teams cannot resolve it, but jumping straight to removal of a feature is premature and undermines the collaborative problem-solving the Scrum Master should facilitate first.
- ✗
Instruct the demonstrating team to stop the demo immediately so the conflict can be resolved before continuing.
Why it's wrong here
Interrupting the System Demo disrupts the ART's shared inspection of the full solution and prevents other stakeholders from seeing the integrated increment. The System Demo is a fixed ART event that should run to completion; conflicts discovered during it are handled afterward, not by halting the demonstration mid-flow.
- ✗
Log the overlap in the team's backlog as a new story and assign it to the next Iteration without discussing it with the other team.
Why it's wrong here
Quietly adding work to the backlog treats a cross-team coordination problem as a local task, which will not resolve the underlying overlap. Without a joint conversation, both teams may build conflicting capabilities, wasting capacity. The Scrum Master should foster communication between the teams rather than unilaterally inserting backlog items.
- ✓
Capture the overlap as an impediment and help facilitate a follow-up conversation between the two teams after the System Demo concludes.
Why this is correct
The Scrum Master serves the ART by removing impediments and facilitating cross-team coordination. The System Demo is an inspect-and-adapt moment; the overlap is a coordination issue best resolved by bringing the two teams together immediately after the demo, preserving the event's integrity while ensuring the conflict is addressed before the next Iteration begins.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Scaled Agile exam blueprint
This SSM practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scaled Agile certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SSM exam.